Twins Run In Families
by Gremblin
Summary: A scene from an alternate universe where Once-ler and Greed-ler were actually identical twin brothers.


Changing schools as often as his family did was hard on Once-ler. He understood that Twos-ler's, his twin brother's, business (sixteen years old and already making millions of dollars a year) was important, but Once-ler wished they could go back to how life was when he was younger. When they all lived on the farm.

Not that he didn't like the perks of being the identical twin brother of the teenager with one of the fastest growing corporations in the country. No sir, he just wished that he could stay living in one place long enough to make a genuine friend. He'd had a few penpals over the years, but none of them lasted very long. It was difficult sometimes to get their letters if he and his family moved.

The first day at his newest school, Greenville High, Once-ler was as invisible as he usually was on his first days. Brett and Chet, despite each being twenty-one years old, had gotten special permission from the school principal to go to class with Twos-ler to keep people from mobbing him.

It was a necessary precaution, it had happened at a few other schools they'd gone to. The public relations people had suggested home-schooling, but Twos-ler had refused to deny the public access to his beautiful face. It also made it harder for him to mock the people he didn't like if those people weren't around to annoy him in the first place.

Once-ler silently moved through the crowded hallways of the school, dodging around people expertly. He was already taller than nearly all of his classmates and even a good number of the teachers. Despite this he was very nimble on his feet when he wanted to be. It was a talent he valued because a good number of his classes were with Twos-ler, meaning that it was hard to even get _near_ quite a few of his classes. There were so many girls in the school that crowded the classroom doorway, wanting to see his twin. It was _annoying_ and more than once Once-ler had been tempted to send the press some embarrassing childhood photos as retribution.

He never did, though. His conscience would pop up and talk him out of it.

"Excuse me. I need to get past." He said politely to a pair of girls that he wasn't able to get around. To better get their attention he touched one of their shoulders gently. He didn't want to startle them, then they might fall over and that could be dangerous in a crowd. Especially when Twos-ler was nearby, rabid mobs tended to form at the drop of a hat.

The girls turned, each giving him a confused yet annoyed look. Because how dare he interrupt their stalkerish ways? Once-ler wondered what they'd think if they knew just how many restraining orders his twin brother had against people for following him a little too much. "What d'you want, creep?" one demanded.

"I just need to get past, that's my next class." Once-ler pointed to the open door behind them, pulling his favourite grey hat closer to his head. It had happened before that someone had recognized him for who he was without him standing next to Twos-ler but he liked avoiding it if he could. He kept his hair long, his clothing as drab and boring as possible. Anything he could do to make himself _not_ look like the world-famous, ridiculously rich, flamboyant Twos-ler.

Before either girl could move or say anything, though, Once-ler found himself being flung backwards into a thickly muscled male body. Disliking the feeling, he tried to get away from the other teenager – only to find his arms grabbed and held in place, preventing him from leaving.

"You hitting on my girl?" The captain of the football team demanded with an angry glare.

Once-ler immediately shook his head, as hard as he possibly could. "N-no! I was just ask- asking to get past! They were in – I needed to get to class, and they were blocking th-the way!" he explained quickly. Hopefully the jock would believe him and tell his friend to let go. It was the truth, after all.

Yet like so many other towns, this jock seemed to be as thickheaded as those in all the other places he'd lived in. "I don't like it when people hit on my girl." the glare deepened, then a fist was flying at Once-ler, hitting him in the face. He tried to get away again – and nearly succeeded – but ultimately failed when a second and third set of hands grabbed hold of him to keep him in place. A second fist flew and hit him in the stomach, then the first hit him in the jaw and made him bite his tongue, hard.

"Hey, bitchtits! What the fuck d'you think you're doing?"

Once-ler immediately found himself dropped to the had linoleum floor of the school hallway. In the classroom doorway, the doorway he'd been trying to get to before the punching had started, stood Twos-Ler, new kid in school, richest person in town, and among the top most popular people in the country. Behind him stood Brett, while Chet walked forward with a menacing expression on his face, pushing his way through the teenagers crowded around to see the fight.

"Teaching this ass wipe to keep his hands off my girl." The jock said, looking much less certain of himself than he had sounded. Chet knelt down and helped Once-ler up to his feet, unsteady on them from the first blow to his head. With an experienced eye he checked for a concussion, knowing what to look for from having to check Brett out after they did something stupid for fun.

Twos-ler walked forward through the crowd, the students parting for him. He sauntered right up to the jock, completely unafraid of what might happen. Brett stayed a few steps behind the green-clad teen just in case, because you never knew how some people would react to the things that Twos-ler said.

"Really? That's what your dad said last night when he caught me having sex with your mom." Twos-ler said, the words filled with a conversational tone, as if he were talking about the weather, a shit-eating grin plastered over his face.

Just before the jock went to attack Twos-ler Brett stepped in, putting himself between the jock and his rich younger brother. He cocked his head to the side, eyeballing the football captain appraisingly, then decided to stay put. Twos-ler's attention was already switched to his twin, uninterested in the threat that was no longer a threat.

"You okay?" Twos-ler questioned Once-ler quietly, moving the blue sunglasses always in front of his eyes to protect them from the flashes of cameras, and placed them on the brim of his top hat.

Once-ler nodded slightly, still a little dizzy, while wiping the blood off his split lip. "Yeah." He answered quietly, looking at the floor. He could almost feel it happening, people realizing just who he was. It was well known that Twos-ler had an identical twin brother but in all the photos of the two of them together Once-ler was always well-dressed at his mother's insistence. Never enough that people would mistake him for who he wasn't, but enough that he didn't look like a country hick.

It happened in every school they went to, of course. Once-ler loved his brother to pieces but he also would like someone to want to be around him for _him_ instead of using him to get closer to Twos-ler, who was famously hard to get close to.

Twos-ler turned and glared daggers at the jock. Once-ler's attacker – and the crowds surrounding him – had realized just who the skinny weirdo was. They were all thinking of the last time one of Twos-ler's relatives were hurt by someone.

Twos-ler had _destroyed_ the man in every way possible.

Nothing was said by Twos-ler other than "This place smells like poor. I'm too rich to put up with these babies, lets go somewhere else." Then he walked away, the crowds parting before him. Once-ler followed closely behind with Brett and Chet bringing up the rear, glaring threateningly at anyone that looked like they were thinking of trying something.

Back in the centre of the crowd someone pats the jock on the shoulder. "You got off lucky, Brick." the person says with a small, tense, laugh.

A month later when the jock, Brick, tries to get a job to help pay the bills that have started all mysteriously going up in price, he finds himself denied at every turn. Thankfully his family's neighbours are all very nice people and help him and his family out. He ends up getting a job in the next town over.

Ten years later the town of Greenville finds every building in town bought by Thneed Industries and all of them evicted with only a single day to get out of town before it's razed to the ground. When some of the townspeople file a lawsuit against the owner of the company for not giving them more time, for nearly killing some of them that weren't able to get out of town fast enough, they find themselves without a penny to their name, in terrible debt, and the clothes on their backs owned by the man that they tried to sue.

All the while, Twos-ler sits in his office, smoking a cuban cigar, looking with a small fond smile at the family picture sitting in a frame on his desk. He might take his time with it to enjoy it more ... but _no one_ messes with his family. Because if you bother one of them, you have to deal with all of them.

...:::TL:::... __

oh god what have I just done? I have no idea...

This has nothing to do with my headcanon, it's just something I thought up and wanted out of my head. That said, if someone wants to join me in this sandbox I have no problems with it, please feel free to join me in the twin-y glory. 


End file.
